Electric indicator.



' P. M. LINCOLN.

ELECTRIC INDICATOR. APPLICATION FILED NOV. 1.2, 1914.l

Patented of.12,1915.

INVENTOR @M Q.. @uw

WITN ESSES ELECTRIC innroairoa.

Specification of Letters Petent.

To all Izr/tom it may concimi.'

Be it known that l, Parr. ill. lancers', a. citizen of the United Statcs,` residingr at Pittsburgh, in the State of Pennsylvania, have invented vcertain new and usel'ul Im-4 provements in Electric indicators, oi' `which the following is a specification. i

My invention relates generally 'to electric indicating instruments operating by reason of the diitl'erential temperature oft parts heated by a current to be measured and is herein shown as particularly applied to a differential .temperature ammeter.

The primary object of the invention is to eliminate c1'io1s `,cll1e.to di'li'lerences in rates of heat escape from different parts.

ln the accompanying drawinghigure i. is diagram and side elevation of a type of -ammeter already known, with my improvement applied thereto il? ig. is a section of the binding post mounting'.

Many electric measuring' instruments, such as the ywell known liti-ight maximum'y demand meter, operate by employing the heat generated by the current to `be measured to bringabout a differential temperature between two bodies and thereby produce a physical motion which is employed for in dicating. l haveA shown an improved form of such an instrument in my previous applica-tion No. Si 9051 filed May ltlnlflll,

for an ammeter. in which expansible bars or tubes are employed and provision is made for compensating for changes of temperature other thanl those due to the current to be measured. In these meters the bar or tube may be heated by a winding carrying a current to be measured. ln such constructions there inevitablyT occur errors in the indication, and particularly when they meter is of large ampere capacity. Forexample,v I show in my (rawinfi,` herewith a maximum' indicating ainnieter in which there are two vessels A and B containing air and connected by a small U tube oontaining a body ot' liquid m. Derived from the right branch of the tube t is a branch tube t", which by gaping the overflow from tube z5 when the liquid is caused to rise in the right branch, indicates on the scale 3, the maximum comparativo expansion oi: the an' in the bulb A, over bulb ll. This expansion is caused by the heat developed by the resistance winding L, L', in which the current to be measured flows from the leads c, al. The registration oli such a meter thus de- Application led November 12, 1914.

Patented Get. i2, i915.

Serial No. 871,692.

pends upon.l the difference between the temperature ot' the air in bulb and that in bulb ll. 'l find however, that this relative temperature depends upon the relative rates by which these bulbs dissipate their heat. lieat escapes :from any body by radiation. by comluction, and by convection. The temi perature rises are however, so small that radiation plays a very small part and may be practically neglected. The. loss by coliyection, depending upon 'the amount 'of surface exposed to the airfis practically equalized between the two bulbs if they have the same surface and form. The heat losses by conduction are totally different in all such instrunients heretofore made. The bulb with its metal wrapping L, L,bind ing post p.; /),'and the leads thereot'and the incoming leads C, al, all tend'to carry 'away heat with con'iparative rapidity, whereas the bulb B as heretofore' constructed has-been without these heat dissipati'ng,A devices. It is easy to show that this introduces serious error. Suppose the bulb A to v'have a hundred square cm. surface and a temperature rise at full load of say -l0 degrees centigrade, the loss bv convectionper degree or' temperature will be about .00025 grani :alor-ies per'second on each square cm., and the total loss therefore about l gram calory per second. Supposing the'instrument to be a. hundred ampere meter, the leads L, L,

`may be of No. 3,13. it S.' gage wire, each .'lour inches long. and it the terminals at c, (Z, werev at atmospheric temperature, these two leads would 'carry -oli' approximately ifty per cent. n'iore heat than the loss from the surface oi: bulb rby convection. Moreover, the temperature ot' the terminals would largely depend upon the status of the incoming leads c, d; it the meter' were in a warm room and .the leads passed lthroutgh a. wall into a winter temperature, we would have a condition very idirferent from that when the meter is in a cool room and the leads passed out into hot summer temperature. ,Again it there were hot joints in any ot the leads close to the winding' L, L, this would produce another, and probably unknown, error. All of these errors and inaccuracies l overcome by making the conditions for dissipating heat exactly the same for the active bulb A. and the passive bulb B. That is, l make the bulb B exactly like the bulb 5r, and duplicate thereon all the windinge and leads as they are on the bulb I vwith the exception of course that current must not flow in the winding Z, Z, which is- The insulation 0 must of course be so lof v cated that the heat dissipating ability ofthe winding on bulb B will be exactly theY same as that on bulb A. So long as the terminals p and p are at the same temperaturefitfis evident that the amount of heatthat will flow from the bulb B to the terminals p and p', or vice versa, through the' leads'Z and Z will be approximately equal in the `two leads,` From this, it is further evident that if the insulation 0 be placed at the middle point of the winding on bulbB, such insulationbeing a heat insulator as well as an electric insulation-will notv interfere with .the transfer of heat between bulb B and terminals p and p', so long as these two terminals are at the -same temperature. If however, the two terminals p and p are not at the same temperature, the heat that will flow over the leads Z and Z. will not be equal andthe location of the heat insulation 0 at the middle point of the winding on bulb B will cause a difference in the heat 4dissipating abilities of bulbs A and B. Since such a difference in temperatures between terminals p and ip might occur due to a hot joint in onevof the leads c or d, I provide for this contingency also by providing means for keeping the two terminals p and p at practically the same temperature in spite of the heat that may. be produced in one of them by a possible hot joint in its vicinity. Thusas better shown in Fig. 2, I attach to terminal post p a metal plate q of comparatively large area, and to terminal post p', a similar metal plate g. These metal plates are insulated from each other by the thin insulating plate r, which should be of as high a thermal conductivity as possible. This construction willl permit heat to vbe transferred fromv terminal 7J to p', or vice versa, and still they will be electrically in- Sula-ted from each other.. The temperature of p and p will therefore remain approximately tlie same and no appreciable error will be introduced by inserting the insulation o at the middle point of the winding on the passive bulb B. q

Having thus described my invention and its use', I claim:

1. An electric indicator operating by diferential temperature Vchanges between two chambers, comprising an active chamber, carrying a heating winding and an inactive chamber made of the same size and `orm provided with a. dummy Winding like the winding of the active chamber, except that as an electric circuit it is open.

2. An ammeter operating by comparative changes of temperature betweentwo eXpansion elements, one of which is heated by the .current to be-measured, comprising an active element so heated, andan idle element of the same structure and the same heat dissipating capacity, substantially as described. An ammeter comprising two air' bulbs connected by a U tube containing a liquid, means to register the movements of the liquid upon differential expansion ofthe bulbs, a winding having proper leads and vadapted for heating` one of the bulbs, and

tures, and means for equalizing the temperature between such connectors.

5. An ammeter comprising two bodies of identical heat absorbing and dissipating qualities, devices to measure differences of temperature between said bodies, means for heating one of said bodies by a current whose amperage is to be measured, said heating means being designed to affect equally both of said bodies, in respect of absorbing or dissipating heat other than that due to the current being measured.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed my name in the presence of the two subscribed witnesses.

PAUL M. LINCOLN.

lVitnesses IV. A. HECKMAN, Funoi; STAUB. 

